Pleasant Stone Devotional Meditation: March 1

"In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple" ~ Isaaiah 6:1

I [Eugenia Price, the author] well remember the first time I learned that "In the year that king Uzziah died" meant more than merely an historical date. Uzziah was one of the great kings of Judah. He made great improvement in Judah's military strength; he developed their agricultural resources; he strengthened the very walls of Jerusalem. Uzziah was a great king. And when he died of leprosy, his people were shattered emotionally. To them tragedy lay all around everywhere. Their king was dead of an outcaste's disease! But our God is a Redeemer, and He used even this tragic death, to shock His prophet Isaiah into seeing Him as He is --- high and lifted up. Isaiah was a godly man before Uzziah's death. But so great a human being was Uzziah that even Isaiah could not see god clearly. So when Uzziah died, Isaish began to see. Who has to die before you can begin to see God as He is --- high and lifted up? Not merely Someone available to help you out of your difficulty with as little inconvenience to you as possible, but "the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up" and His train filling the entire temple of the universe! Who has to die before we can or will see? Perhaps no-one physically. Or perhaps someone will die. At any rate, God will use tragedy which shocks us to give us a better look at Himself, if you and I will only look. But no-one needs to die, if we will but let God move into the center of our lives and allow Him to place that other person or those persons where He wants them to be. No-one but the living God who wants to live His holy life right in us has a right to the throne of our lives. It isn't fair to anyone to keep Him off the throne. Least of all is it fare to the mere human being whom we force to sit there.

"... Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of HIS glory."